The Open Forum on Transgender Health, Healthcare and the Trans* Community focuses on two central questions: “What issues do trans people face in navigating their health care? And how can the health of the trans community, as broadly defined, be improved?”

As the planet gets smaller - at least in terms of the non-stop flow of information about the seven billion or so inhabitants - our anxiety grows. As the world feels smaller, so do we. It is more difficult to see how individual contributions help those in need.

Researchers at University of Illinois at Chicago will get a $950,000 grant for a three-year study to help city governments respond to recessions.The study will look at how city governments can adjust to the global economy and plan for sustainable growth.Researchers hope to help cities handle issues

Researchers in Chicago are launching a study to find out whether weight loss can help African-American breast cancer survivors.The University of Illinois at Chicago study is funded by a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.Melinda Stolley is leading the research.

Sears Holdings Corp. and Chicago’s financial exchanges have quit threatening to pull up stakes now that Illinois has enacted tax breaks for them. But it remains unclear whether state incentives to big companies are wise uses of economic-development resources.